NTU LANGUAGE iMMERSION PROGRAMME IN MANNHEIM (GERMANY)

NOVEMBER 2017

LEARNING ITALIAN THROUGH COOKING SESSION AT NTU

🇮🇹 Italy came to life in front of our eyes, says undergrad Diana Goh who 🍳whipped up dishes like the Caprese salad 🥗 and Pesto while learning the Romance language during an Italian language class at #NTUsg. Besides opening her palate to Italian cuisine, the cooking session also opened her eyes to the Italian culture. “It helped me understand the culture and food of Italy so much better than just reading about it in the books or on the Internet,” says Diana. Buon appetito!

Blossoming interest in learning Malay

The demand for learning Malay language among undergraduates here continue to increase. This trend was noted by NTU, NUS and Unisim, which offered Malay language courses. At NTU, more than 200 students learn Malay each semester and there are many others in the waiting list. The ease of communicating with Malay friends, neighbours and when travelling to Malaysia and Indonesia continue to be the main reason for choosing to learn the language.

pick up latin, swedish at ntu

Since August, 24 students have been attending weekly Latin classes at NTU. The classes are run by NTU’s Centre for Modern Languages, which introduces a new language course based on student demand and its potential use, has also brought in Swedish. It brings the total number of language electives offered at NTU to 16. Assoc Prof Francesco Paolo Cavallaro, the centre’s director, said it was surprised by the demand for Latin. The class – which is taught by Dr Perono Cacciafoco Francesco – has more than 70 students on its waiting list. Another 32 students are learning Swedish from Mr Mans Jakob Hedberg, who, like Dr Perono Cacciafoco, is also a member of the NTU teaching staff. Third-year linguistics and multilingual studies major Benjamin Goh, 24, took up the Latin class because he wanted to learn a classical language, after picking up Italian and German. Biological science student Neo Shi Yong, 24, decided to learn Swedish as he plans to pursue postgraduate studies in biology in Sweden after graduating.

grab the opportunity to learn latin in ntu

Farah Syazana Suhaimi, a third-year NTU student, is among 24 students from various fields who are taking a Latin language course at the university. Mr Francesco Cavallaro, Head of NTU’s Centre for Modern Languages, said they introduced Latin classes after finding out that students are interested to learn the language. Over 70 students are on the waiting list for the Latin course. Another new language offered by the university is Swedish. The university said that Sweden is among the top five popular destinations for exchange programmes among NTU students. Since 1995, more than 1,600 students were involved in exchange programmes in Sweden, while more than 1,800 students from Swedish universities have gone to NTU. With the Latin and Swedish courses, NTU now offers 16 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Russian, Singapore Sign Language, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. Mr Cavallaro said the most popular language courses are Korean, Japanese and French.

OCTOBER 2017

Latin has become a "dead language" because no country or ethnic group use it currently. However, NTU students have expressed an interest in the language, and the University has started language classes in Latin. There are now 24 students registered for the course, with 70 more on the waiting list. NTU is also starting a Swedish language class as Sweden is one of the five most popular countries NTU students pick to go for their overseas exchange. NTU now has 16 language classes in total. Assoc Prof Francesco Paolo Cavallaro, head of NTU's Centre for Modern Language said, "The language is not commonly used, which is precisely why students are extra interested in it. Latin also has influenced many modern languages. Students can better appreciate the artefacts left behind by ancient Rome after studying the language."